Chapter 449: An Announced Trap

Varos didn’t make it more than twenty steps before Ester told him to stop.

He turned, his attention still on the path Eir had opened.

"What?"

"Show me behind your ear."

Varos went still for a moment.

Damon stopped as well.

"You have a mark."

"All field officers do."

Ester approached him. "Then Serik can kill you too."

"We don’t know that."

Damon pointed toward the corpse they had left behind.

"We have a pretty convincing demonstration."

Varos ran his fingers behind his right ear. The mark was smaller than the dead agent’s, but it was there: three red lines forming an incomplete circle.

"It has never reacted outside communications."

"Until five minutes ago, you also thought it was only for authentication," Ester replied. "Sit down."

Varos looked at her.

"No."

"You just watched a man die because of it."

"I’m not going to let you cut into a structure that might be connected to my nervous system when we don’t know how it works."

Ester nodded.

"Finally, someone sensible."

Damon looked at her.

"Was that directed at me?"

"Yes."

Liora approached Varos and examined the mark without touching it. The roots beneath the skin of her own arms darkened for a few seconds.

"There’s something inside."

Varos became serious.

"What?"

"Thread."

"Like the one in the plate?" Aria asked.

Liora nodded.

Ester pulled out a thin needle and brought its tip closer to the mark.

"I’m not going to pierce it. I just want to see if it reacts."

Varos allowed her.

When the needle came within a few millimeters of his skin, the mark heated up. Ester immediately pulled back.

"It reacts to spiritual metal approaching it."

Aria opened her notebook.

"Maybe an anti-tampering mechanism."

"Or self-destruction," Damon replied.

Varos didn’t like that.

Aurelia took out the small wooden sphere Eir had created before their departure. It had been made as a structural reference for Liora, but it still contained a signature of the forest itself.

"Maybe we can use this to compare."

"Compare what?" Varos asked.

"Your state with and without the mark."

"There is no recorded state without the mark."

"There’s your body around it."

Aurelia asked him to sit on a broad root. Then she held the wooden sphere near his neck without directly touching the mark. The sphere didn’t react for a few seconds. Then a small line appeared on its surface and pointed toward the base of his skull.

Ester followed it with her fingers.

"It doesn’t end at the skin."

Varos tensed.

"How far does it go?"

Aurelia moved the sphere.

The line followed toward the side of his neck and then split.

"One part goes up."

"To the brain?"

"Probably."

"The other?"

"Down the spine."

Damon exhaled.

"Serik really likes distributed systems."

Varos ignored him.

Ester asked, "Did you receive this when you joined the Order?"

"When I was promoted to commander."

"What was the procedure?"

"An injection."

"Just one?"

"Yes."

Aria looked up.

"Then the filament grows inside the body."

Liora confirmed it.

Varos looked at her.

"Can you remove it?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I’m not my mother."

The answer was direct enough to end that option.

Damon looked around. They were still inside Eir’s region. The route would remain open for a few more hours before they reached the northern edge of the forest.

"Do we go back?"

Varos answered immediately.

"No."

"If Eir can restore you to before the mark—"

"No."

Damon went quiet.

Varos continued.

"I’m not going to let Eir restore years of my body without knowing what else would be altered."

"I wasn’t going to decide for you."

"I know."

Ester crouched again.

"Maybe we don’t need to remove it. If we only interrupt the external communication, the structure can remain physically present without responding to Serik."

Aria understood.

"Like cutting an antenna without removing the device."

"Exactly."

Aurelia moved the sphere until she found a point where all the internal lines came close together before reaching the surface mark.

"Here."

Ester touched the skin two fingers below his ear.

"This looks like a node."

Varos took a deep breath.

"Risk?"

"I don’t know."

"Estimate."

"If I’m wrong, you could lose movement on the right side of your face."

Damon looked at Ester.

"That was specific."

"Because it passes close to important nerves."

Varos thought for a few seconds.

"Do it."

Ester didn’t begin immediately.

"Confirm?"

"Yes."

She took out three needles. Two were ordinary. The third had a broader tip designed to block localized spiritual circulation.

Varos remained seated while Ester positioned the first two at points below his jaw. Then she inserted the third into the node indicated by the sphere.

The mark behind his ear lit up.

Varos clenched his teeth.

A red line appeared beneath his skin and advanced toward the needle.

It stopped.

Ester twisted the tip.

The line went dark.

Varos breathed more deeply.

"Finished?"

"I don’t know."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Comforting."

Ester shot him a look and removed the needle.

The mark remained visible, but it no longer reacted.

Liora brought her hand closer.

"Dead thread."

Varos touched the spot.

"I still have movement."

"I noticed."

"No numbness."

"Even better."

Aria wrote everything down.

Varos looked at her.

"That doesn’t leave your notebook."

"It probably will."

"Aria."

"It’s useful information."

Damon resumed walking.

"Argue while you walk."

The group continued north.

During the rest of the first day, they encountered no more Order agents. Eir kept the path away from modern trails, leading them through ancient valleys covered in low trees and waterways that didn’t appear on Varos’s maps. Liora recognized the route despite never having physically traveled it. Part of Eir’s territorial memory seemed to accompany her, although it became less precise the farther they moved from the core.

At nightfall, they made camp on an elevated rocky area. They didn’t light a fire. Varos explained that Order patrols used simple thermal sensors in the regions near Vermillion, and Damon decided there was no reason to find out exactly how simple they really were.

Liora ate more than everyone else.

Damon noticed after her third improvised plate of dried meat and fruit.

"You said you needed to eat."

"Yes."

"You didn’t say how much."

"You didn’t ask."

Xue Mei started laughing.

Ester observed Liora with medical interest.

"Is that normal?"

"After being away from my mother, yes."

"How long can you stay away from Eir?"

"Months."

"And after that?"

"I get slow."

"Do you die?"

Liora thought about it.

"Maybe."

Aurelia asked, "Your sister has been away from Eir for one hundred and seventeen years."

Liora became serious.

"She receives artificial nourishment."

"You know that?"

"My mother feels pieces."

It wasn’t a complete connection. Eir didn’t know exactly what was happening in Vermillion, but she could still sense that her previous daughter existed and that parts of her structure remained active.

Varos stared at the ground.

"If she’s been there that long, I should know something."

"Not every commander knows everything," Xue Lian replied.

"I had access to Vermillion reports."

"And what did you see?"

"Tissue regeneration projects, studies of ancient bloodlines, preservation of genetic material."

Aurelia let out a short breath.

"All technically accurate names."

Varos nodded.

"Yes."

Damon was lying on a blanket with his hands behind his head.

"Organizations like doing that."

Ester pointed at him.

"You should be sleeping."

"I’m horizontal."

"That’s not the same thing."

"It’s close."

On the second day, they left the region directly controlled by Eir.

The change was noticeable because the path stopped correcting itself. The trees no longer shifted the passage ahead of them, and Liora had to follow Varos’s directions. From there, they crossed a stretch of rocky hills where the vegetation became lower.

In the middle of the morning, they found the first abandoned Order outpost.

Varos recognized the place.

"There should be four agents."

There was no one.

The door was open.

Damon entered first.

No signs of a fight.

There was food on a table, partially burned documents inside a metal container, and two beds still unmade.

Aria went straight for the papers.

Ester searched for blood.

Xue Lian examined the back door.

Liora stood in the center of the room.

"There’s thread."

Everyone looked at her.

"Serik?"

"Yes."

She pointed toward the wall.

Damon approached.

There was no visible mark.

Varos found a wooden panel and opened it. Behind it was a small communication box containing red filaments identical to the ones they had found inside the destroyed plate.

"Order internal network."

Aria didn’t touch it.

"Active?"

Varos checked an indicator.

"No."

"Turned off?"

"Burned out."

Damon looked at the papers.

"Were the four agents killed?"

"Maybe evacuated."

Liora shook her head.

"Two died here."

Ester looked at the floor.

"There are no bodies."

"They took them."

"Who?"

Liora touched the wall.

"Men."

Varos became serious.

"From the Order?"

"Yes."

Damon understood.

"Serik is clearing the route."

Varos looked at him.

"Maybe."

"You’re still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt?"

"I’m trying not to reach a conclusion without evidence."

"Fair."

Aria raised one of the burned documents.

"I have evidence of something else."

It was a movement record.

Most of it was illegible, but two lines remained.

MATERIAL TRANSFER — VERMILLION

BIOLOGICAL REINITIALIZATION PROTOCOL — PHASE 3

Aurelia became serious.

"Reinitialization."

Varos took the paper.

"I’ve never seen that term."

"Serik isn’t just studying Eir’s daughter," Aria said.

Damon stood.

"He’s preparing something."

Varos kept the record.

"We need to move faster."

No one disagreed.

By the end of the second day, they reached the mountains Eir had indicated. Vermillion lay on the other side, inside a narrow valley surrounded by natural cliffs. Varos explained that there were three entrances: the main road, used for transportation; a technical tunnel, used for maintenance; and an old emergency entrance built when the ruins were converted into a facility.

"Which one is guarded the least?" Damon asked.

"None of them."

"Bad answer."

"The emergency entrance is used less often, but opening any of them generates a record."

Aria asked, "A record for who?"

"Internal control."

"And Serik?"

"Has access."

Damon studied the map.

"Then we don’t open them."

Varos frowned.

"How do you plan to get inside?"

Damon looked at Liora.

She understood.

"Ancient ruins."

Varos looked between them.

"No."

"You said Vermillion was built over the facilities of the first standardizers."

"Yes."

"Then the modern structure doesn’t necessarily occupy everything."

Aurelia approached the map.

"If the ruins predate the changes to the terrain, Liora may have a reference inherited from Eir."

Varos fell silent.

Liora closed her eyes and placed her hand on the ground.

Nothing happened.

After almost a minute, she opened them.

"There’s a path."

Damon smiled.

Varos didn’t.

"This place is kilometers away from here."

"She didn’t say the path starts here."

Liora pointed toward a narrow gorge about two hours to the east.

"There."

At the beginning of the third night, they reached the location.

There was no visible entrance.

Only a stone wall covered in moss.

Liora touched the surface.

"It used to be open."

Aurelia examined the formation.

"Before what?"

"The mountain fell."

Varos exhaled.

"That happened at least three thousand years ago."

"Better," Damon replied.

"How is that better?"

"No one’s going to guard a door buried for three thousand years."

Liora placed both hands against the rock.

For several seconds, nothing changed.

Then small cracks appeared.

Not because the stone was being destroyed.

The ground began returning to an earlier configuration.

Part of the slope slowly shifted to the sides, revealing a narrow passage between blocks that looked as though they had been separated centuries ago.

Varos stared at it.

"If Serik finds out Eir can do this outside the Valley..."

"He’ll want Liora even more," Xue Mei replied.

Liora nodded.

"Which is why we go in before he finds out," Damon said.

The ancient passage led downward.

The air became cold and dry. After fifty meters, the natural walls gave way to artificial blocks covered in symbols similar to those on the chains.

Aurelia moved her fingers near an inscription.

"First standardizers."

Aria immediately started copying it.

Damon grabbed her shoulder.

"Later."

She looked genuinely offended.

"We might not come back this way."

"Take a mental picture."

"That’s not a thing."

"Then walk."

The corridor ended in front of a much more recent metal door.

Varos examined it.

"We’re underneath Vermillion."

"Can you open it?"

"Maybe."

"Without generating a record?"

"No."

Damon looked at Liora.

She touched the side wall.

"There’s another space."

Varos approached.

"There’s nothing there."

Liora insisted.

"There was."

Aurelia understood.

"An old room was sealed during the modern construction."

Damon pointed at the wall.

"Then we open the old one."

Liora began working.

This time, it took longer. The modern wall didn’t disappear, but the structure behind it began pressing outward from the other side. Ancient stones shifted the metal plates by a few millimeters.

Ester frowned.

"Noise."

"I know."

A short while later, an opening appeared, just wide enough for one person to pass through at a time.

Damon entered first.

He found a dark room filled with abandoned equipment. Most of it belonged to the ruins, but modern cables ran across the ceiling.

Varos entered behind him.

"We’re inside the research zone."

"How far to Liora’s sister?"

"I don’t know."

Liora touched the floor.

Her expression changed immediately.

Xue Mei noticed.

"What?"

"She’s close."

"Alive?"

"Yes."

"Conscious?"

Liora closed her eyes.

"Sometimes."

Damon looked at Varos.

"We need a route."

Varos discreetly opened a side door and checked the corridor. It was empty.

"If we’re where I think we are, the biological wings are two levels below."

Aria asked, "And Serik?"

"Central level."

"Which one?"

"Zero."

Damon let out a short laugh.

"Naturally."

Varos looked at him.

"What’s funny?"

"Nothing. Bad experiences with level zeroes."

They moved through the corridors, avoiding occupied areas. Varos knew the patrol schedules and blind spots, but quickly realized something was wrong.

There were fewer agents than there should have been.

"Night shift isn’t this empty."

"Evacuation?" Ester asked.

"Or concentration."

"Somewhere specific."

Varos nodded.

When they reached the first staircase leading to the lower levels, a voice came through the speakers.

Calm.

Male.

Varos stopped.

"Serik."

The voice continued.

"Commander Varos. You interrupted authentication."

Everyone went still.

Damon looked back.

Varos was pale.

"He knows."

"Yes."

The speaker continued.

"You also brought the second manifestation."

Liora grabbed Xue Mei’s hand.

"Eir was more cooperative than we expected."

Damon looked at the ceiling.

"He sounds pleased."

Varos replied quietly.

"That’s never good."

Serik continued.

"There is no need for infiltration. The lower doors are open."

A red light came on above the staircase.

Then another.

And another.

Marking a path downward.

Aria looked at Damon.

"Trap."

"Obviously."

Ester crossed her arms.

"Then we don’t follow it."

Varos, however, was staring in the indicated direction.

"If he opened the doors, Eir’s daughter is down there."

Liora confirmed it.

"She is."

Damon gripped his sword.

"Then we follow."

Ester shot him a look.

"You just agreed it’s a trap."

"Yes."

"And you’re going in."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Damon pointed toward the lights.

"Because the difference between a hidden trap and an announced one is that, with the second, I know exactly who’s waiting."

Varos took a deep breath.

"Serik doesn’t do anything without a reason."

"Good."

Damon started down the stairs.

"Then we’ll finally ask him what it is."